Journal of anesthesia
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Journal of anesthesia · Mar 1998
Thoracic epidural blockade preserves left ventricular early diastolic filling assessed by transesophageal echocardiography.
The objective of this study was to examine the effect of thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) on left ventricular systolic and diastolic function assessed by transesophageal echocardiography under general anesthesia. ⋯ High TEA reduces fractional shortening without any changes in preload and afterload, indicating impairment of systolic function, but early peak velocity, deceleration rate, and deceleration time, which are the indices of diastolic function, are not changed during high TEA combined with general anesthesia.